April Story rode out on one of her horses, holding the reins of another one, about 20 minutes before her Sunshine Canyon home of 25 years was engulfed in flames during the Fourmile Fire on Labor Day in 2010.

Her home and her home-based wildflower art business were a total loss. She saved only her animals and a paper bag full of possessions.

Deciding to rebuild, the 58-year-old has tried to stretch her insurance money, plus $120,000 she borrowed, to cover the cost of meeting the county's new building code and revegetating her 4.6 acres.

But now, more than two years later, the money has run out and her new home still doesn't qualify for a certificate of occupancy, she said. On the advice of friends, she's turning to the community for help.

"It takes so much energy to rebuild your own home -- emotional and financial," she said. "I've never built a house."

She's raising money through Indiegogo, a crowdfunding platform. So far, she's raised almost $4,000 toward her $5,000 goal. Contributions have ranged from $1 to $250.

Her friend, artist Kevan Krasnoff, also is doubling the value of a $250 or $500 pledge when applied to any art on his website.

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Story's friend, Cindy Morris, is leading the fundraising campaign. An astrologer, she got the campaign going by including information about it in her newsletter. Her subscribers then posted the information in their own social media circles, including a listserv for Boulder-area moms.

"It's so satisfying to help a real person who has had a real tragedy in her life," Morris said. "She's such a generous soul. She's so positive and upbeat. I've never once heard her complain. It really feels like you're part of rebuilding someone's life."

April Story gathers strips of hickory flooring Monday so Tim Tobin, right, can nail them in while rebuilding her home, which was destroyed in the Fourmile Fire in 2010.
(
Mark Leffingwell
)

The Fourmile Fire torched 169 homes and scorched 6,200 acres on Sept. 6, 2010. To date, 78 of those who lost homes have pulled permits to rebuild, with 36 receiving certificates of occupancy.

County officials and residents say that, for those who decided to rebuild, obstacles include being underinsured, fighting through drawn-out negotiations with insurance companies and restoring properties during two years of drought. Dealing with architects, contractors and the county's building approval process also have been challenging, residents say.

Then there's the ever-present threat of fire, plus the summer rainstorms that could cause major flooding in the burn area.

In Sunshine Canyon, resident Johanna Hurley is tracking progress after the fire. She said 59 of 170 homes were lost. Of those, 19 have been rebuilt and another seven are still under construction. Several properties also were sold to neighbors.

"Those that rebuilt, it was an experience that almost to a person was extraordinarily difficult," she said.

Story was outside with her horses when the fire started, while Krasnoff, a longtime friend, had stopped by to work on an outdoor sculpture.

Power lines were down, cutting off her phone access, so she drove to a high point to check her messages, listening to reverse 911 calls warning her of a wildfire in her area -- but not telling her to evacuate. Neighbors who weren't home also sent her text messages. She helped one by grabbing a computer and loading it into her car.

She was saddling one of her two mares when firefighters showed up and told her to leave immediately. She rode near the road, while Krasnoff drove her car and his -- switching off down the mountain -- with her dog and two kittens.

"I was the very last person to leave the area," she said. "The rescue people, they were frantic."

After learning that her home had burned to the ground, it took two months before she could face returning. But, she said, she knew she wanted to rebuild.

"This is my sanctuary," she said.

To speed up the permit process, she used the same footprint and square footage. She said Boulder County made the process as painless as possible, and she got good deals from those she hired to build the house.

Still, the county's building codes added about 20 percent to the cost. Her insurance coverage also didn't include the repairs she needed to make to her well and septic system, or the cost to remove dead trees and revegetate her property.

"The fire destroyed the very soil," she said. "Everywhere you walked, it was a cloud of black ashes. You have to bring in soil and compost and seed and water."

She said drought conditions over the last two summers have added to the difficulty. She's felled trees and laid them on contour on the landscape to combat erosion, built earth dams in her ravine and watered the surviving trees to keep them alive.

She estimated that it will take another $50,000 worth of work to get her house and property to a point where she would qualify for a certificate of occupancy. She's hoping to save money by doing some of the work herself and considers $5,000, her fundraising goal, a good starting point.

"My general attitude is just focus on the positive," she said. "It's too overwhelming to contemplate in its entirety, so I'm just going to plant some seeds underneath my feet and move forward. It's never going to be the same, but it's a new kind of beauty."

April Story lays strips of flooring Monday to help cut costs while rebuilding her home.
(
Mark Leffingwell
)

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